


Diplomatic Methods

by YourLocalPriestess



Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-16
Updated: 2017-08-16
Packaged: 2018-12-16 06:41:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11823312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YourLocalPriestess/pseuds/YourLocalPriestess
Summary: It would go against Meg Shepard's very nature to ignore it if someone was hurt, especially if it was happening right in front of her.





	Diplomatic Methods

**Author's Note:**

> For Day 16 of Fanfiction Month! Prompt: Something From Your Life as Fic.

Snickering echoed from the front of the room all the way to the back row where Meg and Stacey were sitting. Snickering from that particular area and that particular group of boys was never a good sign. Meg looked up from her conversation toward them.

Thea had just walked back into the class holding a single cupcake in her hand. That wasn’t such a big deal, as it was their free period, though where she got it on a bathroom trip was beyond Meg’s imagination.

Thea kept her head down and didn’t speak as she took her seat in the front row of the class.

A few people were muttering to each other as the girl started to peel back the paper to eat it, and the boys continued to snicker and look her way. Meg frowned at the scene before her. Sure, Thea didn’t have many friends and she was a little awkward, but she was just eating a fucking cupcake.

Then one of the boys threw a miniature biotic ball at the cupcake in her hands.

It missed the pastry by inches and bounced off the desk. Almost the entire class laughed, including Stacey. Thea barely twitched her head toward the boy as he stood to retrieve his ball. She only slumped lower into her seat as her shoulders hunched in on herself.

A frown formed on Meg’s face as she watched the boy walk back over to his friends with a cocky smirk. She couldn’t quite believe what had just happened.

She’d barely processed her thoughts when the ball went sailing across the room again. It missed the pastry again, but only barely now, and only because Thea had pulled it toward herself marginally.

The class broke into raucous laughter and Meg’s jaw dropped as she looked around at them all. Thea chanced a glance back at the class then; her face was red and her eyes sparkled with tears. That was enough for Meg.

The boy was making his way back to his seat after retrieving the ball again. He was so busy laughing with his friends as he sat down that he didn’t notice Meg stand up. She moved to walk forward, but Stacey’s hand on her arm stopped her.

“What are you doing?” she whispered. She glanced around the room quickly, as if hoping no one saw them.

Meg glared at her and jerked her arm out of the girl’s grip. She marched toward the front of the class, still unnoticed by Thea or the boys, and reached the front row just as the boy took his next shot.

Her hand shot out and she caught the ball mid-air, inches away from causing the cupcake to explode all over Thea. Thea’s eyes were wide as she glanced from the still glowing ball, to Meg, and back to the boys. Meg paid them no mind. Yet.

“Are you okay?” she asked her.

“Yeah,” she muttered, her eyes darting to the desk as she hunched still further in on herself. “I’m fine.”

Meg pursed her lips and glared at the useless teacher and the group of boys next to him. “What kind of foul, worthless human beings do shit like this?”

The boy rose, a glare marring his features. He was over a foot taller than her, but she didn’t back down or shrink away even as he puffed out his chest.

“C’mon, Meg. They’re just joking around,” the teacher said without looking at her. He was fidgeting and glancing at the class and back to her.

“Give me the ball,” the boy said, voice hard.

Meg smirked and tossed it up in the air once before catching it back in her hand. “What is it, some kind of small dick complex? Maybe mommy didn’t give you enough hugs when you were young, so now you have to make yourself feel all big and bad to make up for it?”

The class let out a chorus of “oooooh” and a cluster of whispers broke out and died as quickly as it came.

The boy’s face was red as he glanced at them all, then back to her. “Listen, bitch.”

The class gasped and someone said, “Oh shit,” behind her. The teacher’s eyes were wide now, though he made now move to stop them or stand between them. _Useless_ , she thought.

Meg’s fingers curled around the ball while maintaining her smirk. “It _is_ the small dick thing, then. A little sensitive? I guess I would want to stroke my ego too, if no one would stroke my pecker.”

The class broke out in laughter and the boy lunged forward, his fists flying wildly. Meg side stepped the hit and he staggered forward, just in front of Thea’s desk, off balance and defenseless, with his arms waving in a very different kind of way than moments before. Meg kicked his ass so he fell forward and hit the floor with a loud thunk, which was met with even more laughter and some applause.

The teacher rose behind his desk, glaring at her. “Ms. Shepard!”

“No!” she shouted at him. “You allowed his bullshit, you can allow mine.”

The teacher immediately looked at his desk and sank into his seat.

The boy hadn’t moved from his position. Meg took the opportunity to walk over and crouch down next to him. His face was turned toward her, away from the class, and his nose was bleeding.

“If I ever see you do this shit again,” she whispered, quiet enough for only him to hear, “you’ll have way more than a bloody nose to worry about.” She dropped the metal ball with a clunk next to his face and had the pleasure of watching him flinch before she walked back to her seat. Once there, she grabbed her bag from her spot next to Stacey, ignoring the girl’s horrified expression, and walked back up to the front, assuming the empty seat next to Thea.

Thea glanced at the prone boy in front of her desk and back to Thea nervously. “You didn’t have to do that,” she whispered.

Meg looked up from unloading her datapads and raised an eyebrow. “Yes, I did. No one deserves that.”

A small smile broke across Thea’s face for the first time since coming back in the room. “Well, thanks.”

“No problem.” Meg leaned forward and looked at the teacher, both eyebrows raised high. “Are we doing class or what?”

The teacher startled and coughed once as he surveyed the room with dart-y eyes. “Uhh, Mr. Porter, find your seat.”

The boy, whose name Meg had not known until just then, rose and took his seat. The teacher then went about teaching the class without another word about it, except to discuss with them the benefits of settling differences diplomatically.

Meg almost laughed.

**Author's Note:**

> This is probably....one of the most painful memories I have. And I don't want to expound about it much, but this was awful to write. Like pulling teeth. But god, it felt good to see that fucker get his ass beat, even if it was fiction.
> 
> Thank you so much for reading. I hope your life is everything you want it to be and more. Any comments/kudos/what-have-yous are appreciated <3


End file.
